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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Dollars & Sense - Twitter and its Trolls

Look at the events from this past weekend. Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Javon
Belcher murdered his girlfriend and later took his own life in front of
Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli and head coach Romeo Crennel. Saint Louis University head men’s basketball
coach Rick
Majerus passed away due to ongoing heart problems at the age of 64.

Both of those events ranged somewhere in the spectrum of
tremendously sad to horrendously tragic.
Both also required an inherent element of care and soul. Social media, however, shows that many people
don’t see stories in that light. People
see these stories as a way to take a cowardly and ignorant shot at an
undeserved target behind the protection of a computer screen and an identity
unknown to 99.99% of the world.

The positive uses of social media are always in the
spotlight. The way that social media can connect people anywhere in the world
is unparalleled. The versatility for
business and personal use is being further discovered every single day. But the negatives can sometimes be forgotten in
all of the positives. And even though
social media has done countless good for news stories such as the
aforementioned, social media also shows a side of people that would best be
never seen.

Twitter in particular is an interesting tool. In 140 characters or less, people can get a
glimpse into the soul of any user.
Sometimes it can be quite pleasant.
Other times it can be downright horrifying.

All it takes is a simple search on a topic to see the
reaction. Take Rick Majerus’ death for example.
He was considered one of the great guys in the college basketball game,
but some people still find it alright to comment on his weight (see below).

Should we even take the time to acknowledge this sort of
comment? Maybe not. But it should serve as a moment to learn
about mankind. It should serve as a reminder this is the way some people
think. These are the types of people
that are in this crazy world of ours.

In times like this, Twitter can also keep the trolls
honest. CBS Sports, a fine news outlet
in many respects, had the gall to post about the fantasy impact of Jovan
Belcher’s murder/suicide as details were still being discovered. As George
Okuhara points out below, there should not be a place for this in the world (and we all know that CBS handled the situation poorly during their coverage on Sunday as well).

Of course these are some of the most emotional of
situations, but it can be seen even in what is a much more trivial situation. We know that the Philadelphia Eagles are in
the midst of a less than stellar situation to say the least. Leading up to the
season, tragic news came out of Eagles training camp at Lehigh that head coach
Andy Reid’s son had died in what was later confirmed as a drug overdose.

In two events that are not relatable, fans still take their
hatred of Andy Reid to new heights. Fans
constantly attack Reid on the basis of his weight, which is so incredibly
superficial it almost pains me to admit that I share the same favorite team as
some of these people. His weight and
poor win/loss record this season has prompted an internet movement, “Trim the
fat, #FireAndy.”

If that isn’t bad enough, fans have found a way to take this
to a new level. Though the exact tweet
in my mind could not be located, I specifically recall one saying in summary
that Reid should go die and join his son in hell. I’ll let that sink in for a moment.

The statement is horrifyingly eloquent in a way of insensitivity
and ignorance. A better explanation of
Twitter trolling could not be thought up by the best of us.

What it truly shows though is that the lines of fanhood have
been blurred. Love and hate for a team
and its players has gone well beyond the boundaries of the playing field. It has spilled over into life itself and
Twitter gives us a window into how ugly it can truly be.

I’m not necessarily talking about how these trolls affect
the business of sport (although in the
case of CBS Sports’ miscues we can see how the business of sport can corrupt
some minds). What I’m talking about
here is one of the unintended consequences of the business of sport. Shedding more and more light on the business
has increased fan need for information, and the past examples of Twitter
reactions shows the blurring of fanhood and ignorance.

There’s no way to control the trolls. The trolls will always
be there. There’s no way to shut the trolls out. But what we can do is use the trolls as a
reminder. It’s a reminder that we can
all be better, and if we’re all trying to better ourselves, then we can make a difference in this world.